Category Archives: Pretend Play

This activity takes a little bit of planning. First, we drew the concept on paper, then we created the outline on the floor with chalk and finally we stuck the tape over it. A & a participated whole-heatedly deciding what structures should appear where. The helped lay the tracks for the train and also stuck trees around the neighborhood.

After the town was made, they pulled out building blocks and made an arch, added a see-saw in the garden, made a train and drove cars all around their new town. We discussed which route goes from the house to the garden and from the house to different places, and also discussed about the right direction for cars to travel and go around the town circle.

Like this:

A & A have been coming home each evening with soiled clothes. It’s because they have just discovered “mud play”. Due to continuous rains, the soil in the building compound has been moist for a long time. So the children have found a little spot near the flower bed, where the meet each evening, and dig out soil and make soil cookies and vessels. As much as I don’t like them coming home covered in dirt, I don’t want to stop them, because as kids, even I loved making little mud structures.

But, the fear of them falling sick has been bugging me for a while, so I was determined to find some safer activity they could do and yet not lose the wonderful experience of playing with mud/soil. After a lot of searching, I found this fantastic pretend play farm activity at Frugal Fun for Boys. I love how Sarah has put a little pond in the middle of her garden and added plastic animals and figurines, and I knew that I had to do this for the kids.

The things needed for the activity are:

One plastic container with holes

Soil

Small plants

One small plastic bowl (to serve as pond)

Plastic figurines

So here are pictures of our version of the plant a garden activity; we call it our Home Farm.

I bought a packet of plastic domestic and wild animals and mixed them together. After the garden was made, I asked the kids to tell me which animals would fit in the farm. We discussed why wild animals could not live on farms, and also discussed how farm animals are useful to us.

The next day morning, after they woke up, they quickly went to see their farm. Big A told me that the rooster woke everyone up with a loud “Cock-a-doodle-do”, and it’s time to bathe the animals. So both of them spend the morning, bathing their animals and playing with we mud.

I am hoping to add a little fence with Popsicle sticks and maybe make a coop for the hen in the coming days. Keep watching this space for more pictures!

As promised, here are pictures of new additions to our farm. We made fence enclosures for animals, and discussed which two animals could stay together in the same enclosure. We also used the magnifying glass to check if any tiny insects have made a home in our farm.

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